From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Ekiti State Police Command has recovered the baby that was stolen in Ado-Ekiti, capital of Ekiti State, and also arrested a female suspect, Deborah Ayeni, 34, who stole the baby.
It would be recalled that a day-old baby was reported missing at Okeyinmi Health Centre, on Monday, in the metropolis.
According to a source, the baby, a boy, was born on Sunday around 8pm and was discovered to have disappeared when one of the nurses on duty wanted to attend to the baby in the early hours of Monday.
The parents of the baby, Mr Mustapha Aliyu (29) and Mrs Salmatu Lawal (22), both hail from Borno State.
The Commissioner of Police, Joseph Eribo, made the disclosure when he was addressing newsmen on Wednesday, in his office, at the Command’s headquarters, in Ado-Ekiti.
The CP said, “Very early on Monday morning, a baby was stolen from a hospital in Ado-Ekiti. The alarm was raised, and police officers rushed there to find out what went wrong, and it was discovered that the baby’s mother went to the convenience, and before she came back, the baby had disappeared.
“And we discovered that there was a lady who pretended to be pregnant, awaiting delivery too, who was in the same ward, not knowing that she had a fake pregnancy, a clear case of deception, to enable her to carry out her dastardly act. She eventually left with the baby, and the parents were in distress, so worried, and we assured them that we would do our possible best to ensure that the baby was recovered.
“The DPO did a very good job. He rushed down to the scene of the crime, when he got there he saw something that looked like a bag, and he picked it up, opened it, and saw cotton wool. He further looked and saw a receipt where she purchased the cotton wool from one of the popular supermarkets here in Ado-Ekiti. We rushed to the supermarket, and luckily they have a CCTV camera, and it was played back, and we saw the lady and three other men in the CCTV, and that gave us a clue, and we started hunting for the lady.”
The CP continued, “Like we always say that security is everybody’s business, a reliable informant called one of our senior officers and said that he heard in the news that a baby was missing, that he saw a baby and suspected the baby to be a stolen child. Again, we moved to the place, and we were able to arrest the lady and recovered the newborn baby from her, hale and hearty.”
Speaking with the suspect, Deborah, a native of Ekiti State, she said she conceived the plan to prevent being abandoned by her fiancé after she lost a pregnancy in March 2025.
According to her, the fiancé had travelled to the United Kingdom in 2024 after their introduction, and after she lost the pregnancy, she didn’t inform her fiancé but lied to him that the pregnancy was intact because she was afraid that her fiancé might quit the relationship if he got to know about it.
She said in her desperation to get a child to cover up for the loss, she pretended to be pregnant by wrapping up clothes in her stomach and executed the plan by stealing the baby.
“I stole the baby because I wanted the baby. I live in Afao-Ekiti.
“I was pregnant last year before my husband travelled to the UK, but I had a miscarriage in March this year, but I didn’t tell him that I lost the pregnancy.
“I’m not legally married yet, but I did my introduction last year. I was thinking ‘if I tell my husband that I lost my pregnancy, maybe he would leave me.’ This is my first time of stealing a baby.
“I was not on admission when I went to the hospital. I pretended to have pregnancy (sic) by packing clothes in my stomach.
“I was playing with the mother on Sunday morning, we started playing because I know how to speak Hausa language. Her husband told me to help him stay with the baby while he went out to get something. I stole the baby around 4am on Monday. I trekked for a few minutes before I was able to get an okada to Afao-Ekiti where I live.”
The father of the baby, Mustapha Aliyu, 29, said, “After my wife put to bed, I informed the nurse that we wanted to go home. The nurse advised us to stay for at least 24 hours.
“The woman (suspect) sat on a chair near my wife’s bed and was speaking in Hausa language and asked if the newborn was a boy or a girl. I replied that it was a boy.
“I asked the woman what she came to do at the hospital, she said she had come to give birth.
“And while we were resting, my wife said she saw the woman covering the baby and then playing with him. We thought she was helping us.
“Later, we were told that there was no more hot water. So, I went home to bring some hot water and also went to the mosque to pray. My wife had gone to use the toilet. My phone kept ringing while I was praying in the mosque. After the prayer, I headed straight to the hospital and was told that the baby was missing.”
According to the Command’s Spokesperson, Sunday Abutu, the recovered baby has been handed over to the parents, while the suspect will be further investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
The CP appealed to residents of the state to be security conscious and implored them to continue to support and cooperate with the police by supplying credible and timely information that can lead to the arrest of criminal elements in society.
